And Forever
by Sining
Summary: Two years have passed since the defeat of Mithos, but some things don't change.
1. 1 And forever

Disclaimer: Tales of Symphonia characters belong to Namco.  
  
"Ah...Um...say, what are you planning to do after this?"  
  
"After this?"  
  
"Yeah, when the worlds are reunited, our journey will be over right? So, what then?"  
  
"Well I think I want to go on a journey to collect all the Exspheres."  
  
"Oh..." her throat tightened, her heart pumping like mad. "I..."  
  
"Yes, Sheena?"  
  
"...That's a good idea..." she said, looking away from him as she cursed herself for not being able to say the words she wanted to say. 'I want to be with you' she screamed in her mind, but she was unable to bring herself to voice it.  
  
"Oh..."  
  
She wasn't quite sure if it was her imagination but she could almost hear disappointment in his voice.  
  
Nothing more was said as they both stared off into the distance.  
  
---  
  
Sheena awoke with a start, her body breaking out into a slight sweat. It was that dream again. Except it was more than a dream, it was a memory of the time when she had been too scared of rejection to say what she had wanted to say, a memory that was more distressing than any other nightmare she had.  
  
She sighed as she slipped out of bed, pulling her sleeping robes around her. It had been 2 years since their journey had ended. Two years since she had last seen Lloyd as he had set off on his journey to collect all the exspheres in the world.  
  
A lot had changed in those two years. She was now the acting Chief for the village of Mizuho. Her grandpa had been more than willing to step down but she had felt she wasn't fully ready for the job and so had convinced him to create the post of Acting Chief for her. Her job really consisted mostly of learning what she should do as a leader of her people, with lots of advice from the Vice-Chief and her grandfather.  
  
The duties of her job had made it such that she hadn't been able to travel outside of Mizuho as much as she would have wanted, and thus she hadn't been in touch with any of the others for some time.  
  
But that didn't mean she didn't know what was happening to them. The Mizuho intelligence network was the best in both worlds after all. The last she had heard, Zelos had been engaged to Princess Hilda of Meltokio. God knows she had managed to do that but she suspected it might have to do with the rumours that the Princess was currently pregnant and she had a very strong suspicion she knew who the father was.  
  
Genis and Raine had spent much of the last two years travelling between Heimdall and Exire, trying to improve the relationships between half elves and pure elves. As far as she knew, it wasn't working very well. But then again, they had only been at it 2 years, which wasn't very long as far as elves and half-elves were concerned.  
  
Colette had stayed with her family in Iselia and had become something of a celebrity. Visitors; mostly Sylvarant visitors, flocked to Iselia in hopes of seeing the chosen who had saved the world. Or at least so they thought. Lately, it seemed that Colette had even become something of a Priestess, giving sermons about Martel to the hundreds of visitors which flocked to see her.  
  
As for Regal, he had taken back his position as head of the Lezareno company and along with Presea; who had taken on the job as his secretary, was helping the inhabitants of both worlds with rebuilding what they had lost. They often supplied materials at dirt cheap prices to those who needed it.  
  
But strangely enough, the vaunted Mizuho network hadn't been enough to track down the person she wanted to know about the most. Sure, every now and then, a Mizuho agent would catch sight of him in some city or some ruin and report it back, but those sightings were rare.  
  
She sighed as she poured herself a glass of milk. 'Lloyd...where are you?' she thought as she wished she could see him again, so that she could finally say what she wanted to.  
  
"CHIEF!!" her train of thoughts were broken as someone barged into the house. She tensed and then relaxed when she saw it was Orochi. And then realised that he had stopped dead in his tracks and was staring at her. She looked down and remembered that the front of her robe was open, exposing the flimsy nighty she usually slept in.  
  
"KYAA!" she screamed as she hurled the glass at Orochi and quickly closing her robe.  
  
"I'MSORRYI'M SORRY!IDIDN'TSEEANYTHING!!' Orochi said as he dodged the glass and averted his eyes. Well, actually he had, and the only thing running through his mind now was 'WOW!'  
  
"Oroooooochi" Sheena growled, as she cracked her knuckles in a way that screamed 'You had better have a good explanation for this or they WON'T ever find your body'.  
  
Orochi shivered at the tone of her voice. Deciding he was safer the faster he talked, he launched into his explanation. "The guards found someone bleeding at the entrance to our village, he was badly wounded all over so we brought him in for treatment-"  
  
She paused as she listened to him. True, it was rare that somebody actually managed to stumble onto the secret village of Mizuho, but it was hardly reason to charge her into her house, nor did it explain Orochi's agitation. Unless...  
  
"-and we thought you might like to know since it was one of the people you travelled with previously. Lloyd Irving." Her eyes widened.  
  
Two minutes later, she was fully dressed and running towards the hospital.  
  
---  
  
The first thing she noticed was his face. During those past two years, it had changed subtly, becoming more mature, leaner. She could see more and more of Kratos in his features now, with one major difference. Kratos always had a slight pensive and brooding set to his face; even when he was sleeping, which was missing from Lloyd. Lloyd had a blissfully content expression on his face as he lay unconscious, one that made him look more angelic than his parent ever had. He had also grown his hair out into a short, spiked ponytail that started from the nape of his neck. The second thing she noticed was that his exsphere was gone, leaving nothing but a scar where it had been attached to the back of his hand.  
  
He was also covered in wounds. Scars littered his body where cuts had been recently healed and a few of the deeper ones had been stitched shut.  
  
She stood there for a while, staring at him as a tumult of emotions raged through her. Happiness at seeing him again, guilt for feeling so happy when he was so wounded and grief at the extent of his injuries. 'Lloyd, oh Lloyd...' she thought as her heart tightened.  
  
"How is he?" she asked, turning to the medical director of the hospital.  
  
He was a lanky man, well into his thirties and already starting to go bald. But there was intelligence that shone fiercely in his eyes. "Well, we're no half-elves but we managed to heal most of his wounds. Those we couldn't, we stitched shut. The only worrying thing was that he lost a lot of blood but we've transfused some to him and put him on the drip so he should be fine in time since he managed to avoid taking any critical injuries. He may even wake up as early as tomorrow, thought it will be some time before he can do anything strenuous since his body still needs to replace the blood that it lost," he said in a clinically detached manner.  
  
"I see," she said as she picked up Lloyds hand, holding it gently in both hands as if that might cause him to break. He was so warm, which made it strange that he should be lying unconscious. What could have hurt him like this, she wondered. But before she could think more about the subject, she became aware of two presences coming up behind her.  
  
"Sheena-dono," a pair of voices intoned respectfully.  
  
"What is it?" she sighed, and tenderly put Lloyds hand down beside him before turning around to see who it was.  
  
The pair of ninjas standing in front of her were identical in almost every way. The only difference was their choice of weapons. One carried two kodachis strapped to his side while the other carried the more traditional choice of weapon, a katana, on his back.  
  
She recognised the two of them as Garou and Shirou, fraternal twins, and two of the guards on duty tonight.  
  
"There is something you might want to see."  
  
---  
  
'My god, what happened here?' Sheena thought with no slight measure of trepidation and disbelief. The two guards had followed Lloyd's trail back to determine where he had come from and perhaps come up with some slight idea of what had happened that led his current state. It had been easy enough tracking the trail of blood, even by moonlight.  
  
That was when it had led them to the Gaoracchia Forest, otherwise known as the Forest of Death. They had walked in cautiously, their weapons drawn but it seemed like the forest was being unnaturally quiet, even more than usual. And what they had found had led them to inform her as quickly as possible.  
  
Not that she could blame them. The Forest of Death looked like a slaughter house. Monsters lay dead everywhere, their bodies strewn all over the place. There was even several dragons among the mix, which surprised her. As far as she knew, there had never been any dragons in Gaoracchia forest. Judging from the cuts on their body, it was easy to guess that Lloyd had been the cause of death.  
  
She walked gingerly among the carcasses as she examined the scene in front of her. Strangely, all the dead monsters appeared within the last few stretches of the forest. Before that stretch, it was as if all the carnage had never happened.  
  
She paced about as an idea of what must have happened came to her mind. Lloyd had probably been walking through the forest and had been close to the exit of the forest when suddenly he had been attacked. He managed to kill all his attackers but had been injured severely in the process so he had dragged himself to the nearest safe place that he knew of, Mizuho, before he had passed out from blood loss.  
  
But a few things about that theory didn't sit well with her. Why had the monsters waited till the last stretch to attack him? As far as she could tell, there hadn't been any signs of any other battles in the other parts of the forest. It was almost like they had ambushed him. And why had they attacked him en masse? She had never heard of such a huge number of monsters ever working together, especially to attack someone. Monsters usually stayed away from you for a while if they saw that you had defeated their brethren, except for the more aggressive ones.  
  
It was then she spotted it, lying there in the midst of the carnage, partially hidden from view by the thick foliage. Squatting down, she retrieved it and recognised it immediately. It was a feather with iridescent highlights running up and down it.  
  
It was an angel feather.  
  
Authors Notes: This chapter pretty much just wrote itself. -- This is an AU (alternate Universe) with slight changes from the game. For one Kratos is DEAD in this fic. 


	2. 2 Reunions

"Ah...Um...say, what are you planning to do after this?"  
  
"After this?"  
  
"Yeah, when the worlds are reunited, our journey will be over right? So, what then?"  
  
"Well..." he said, pausing as he looked up at the sky, "I think I want to go on a journey to collect all the Exspheres."  
  
"Oh...I..."  
  
"Yes, Sheena?"  
  
"...That's a good idea..."  
  
"Oh..." For some strange reason he didn't quite understand, he felt disappointed.  
  
An awkward silence settled over the two of them, both of them lost in their thoughts.  
  
Finally, he stood up from the bench he had been sharing with Sheena. "I think I better get to sleep."  
  
"Oh...okay."  
  
For some reason she looked upset but he couldn't comprehend why.  
  
----  
  
He groaned as the light struck him, awakening him. He felt horrible, almost every part of his body ached in some way, and those that didn't were so numb that he couldn't feel anything. 'Where am I?' he said as he struggled to sit up and was immediately hit by a rush of dizziness. "Ugh..." he hunched over as the wave passed over him.  
  
It was then he noticed her. "Sheena?" he said, more in amazement than any other question as he stared at the figure besides him. She was seated on a stool besides his bed but leaning forward such that she was resting on the bed, with her arms folded beneath her. She was also fast asleep.  
  
He couldn't help but smile at the sight of her sleeping. It was just too cute. 'So...I've made it to Mizuho,' he thought as he took in the room around. It was fairly sparten, consisting of his bed, the stool Sheen was sitting on, another stool in the corner and a table in front of his bed with a vase of what seemed like plastic flowers in them. His clothes had also been replaced with some flimsy oversized gown.  
  
He noticed that Sheena was beginning to stir. It started with soft unintelligible mutterings before she finally lifted her head and yawned, one hand going up to rub at her eye.  
  
"Morning," he said cheerfully and watched as she stopped suddenly, freezing with one hand to her eyes and turned slowly to stare at him. He was aware that a bright crimson was starting to paint her cheeks as she looked at him.  
  
"Lloyd! You're awake!" was all the warning he had before she; quite joyously, tackled him into a tight hug.  
  
"Aaack! Noooo, pain!!"  
  
"Oops, sorry," she said, blushing as she released him.  
  
"It's okay," he said, wincing as his body told him that it was definitely not okay. "So...how did I get here?" he asked as he looked at her. She hadn't changed much from what he remembered, which made him happy in a way. She was even dressed the same, with her trademark pink obi tied around her waist.  
  
"Don't you remember?" she said, looking at him quizzically.  
  
"I remember collapsing halfway," he said with all honesty.  
  
"Well...the guards found you at the entrance to the village, so they brought you in for treatment." At this, a look of apprehension entered her eyes. "Lloyd, what happened out there? I saw what was in the Forest of Death. That many monsters don't suddenly work together for no reason. And I found this," she said as she slipped the angels feather out of her pocket and held it up in the light, where it sparkled, the iridescent highlights glinting in the morning light.  
  
Nothing was said for a while as the two of them stared at the feather.  
  
"Lloyd..." Sheena began, as she softly lay her hand upon his. "What's going on?"  
  
"Uh-hem," a voice coughed, in a manner that was obviously fake and suggested the owner of the voice had been privy to certain scenes he wasn't supposed to. Sheena blushed furiously and jerked her hand off of his.  
  
Lloyd turned his gaze to the door, where the owner of the voice stood. At first glance, Lloyd thought the man standing there was quite elderly, perhaps in his late 50s to 60s, because of the full head of white hair that he had. but then he realised that while the man's hair may have been totally white, his features were still quite youthful. His right eye was closed, with a nasty scar running through it to slightly below his cheekbone.  
  
"Sheena-dono, the Chief and Vice-chief have honourably requested your presence as well Lloyds presence at the Chief's house to discuss the events of last night."  
  
"Alright, Kageshi, tell him we'll be coming," Sheena said, to which Kageshi simply nodded and turned to walk from the room. "Well...guess we better get going. Gramps doesn't like to be kept waiting," she said in a light tone, her earlier embarrassment forgotten. "Do you need any help getting out of bed?"  
  
"No, I'll manage," he said as he lightly eased himself off the bed.  
  
"Okay, just follow me then."  
  
"Uh...Sheena?"  
  
"Yes, Lloyd?"  
  
"Do you think I could have my clothes back?" he said sheepishly as he pointed to the gown that he was dressed in.  
  
"Oh...right."  
  
----  
  
Several minutes later, they were out of the hospital and on their way to the Chief's house.  
  
"What's wrong?" Sheena asked as she watched Lloyd pick at his clothes. His new clothes to be precise. While Lloyd had survived the fight remarkably intact, his clothes hadn't. In fact, the only thing they had been able to salvage was his sword-belt and his swords. Currently he was dressed in partial ninja gear, with long brown pants that were tucked into soft-leather boots and a grey-black V-necked tunic.  
  
"This looks weird," he muttered.  
  
"What? Are you saying our Mizuho clothing looks weird!"  
  
"No, no, that's not it," Lloyd said, shaking his head. "I just think it looks weird on me."  
  
"I think you look fine," Sheena grinned. And judging from the looks he was getting from some of the women and younger girls in the village, she wasn't the only who thought so.  
  
"I don't know...people keep giving me weird looks," Lloyd said, a hint of doubt in his voice, as he looked around him. The village of Mizuho hadn't changed much in the past 2 years, a few new buildings had cropped up here and there but nothing had really changed. Walking with Sheena like this, it almost felt like he had been transported back two years ago.  
  
Strangely enough, he missed those times. Sure, there had been a lot of hardships back then, what with defeating Mithos and Cruxis, but at least everyone had been together. They had travelled together, eaten together, fought together. Looking back, he had been happy back then. It sure beat the past two years where he had travelled alone, wandering from land to land in search of exspheres.  
  
"We're here," Sheena said as she stopped in front of a house and slid the door open.  
  
He recognised it as the place where Vice-chief Tiga had welcomed them the first time they had come to Mizuho. Following Sheena's lead, he walked into the familiar hall where both the Chief and the Vice-chief sat waiting for them.  
  
"Greetings Lloyd-san. Please, take a seat," the Chief said, as he pointed to an empty cushion opposite of him. "I hope we have not inconvenienced you?"  
  
"No, not at all," Lloyd said, wincing slightly from his injuries as he sat down. Sheena gracefully took the cushion besides him, a mask of formality sliding over her features, sitting protectively close to him.  
  
"Usually, we would not trouble someone who was as badly injured as you, but there ARE things that we must know. And the hospital has many ears," the Vice-chief said, slightly apologetic.  
  
"Hey, it's okay," Lloyd said with a smile, shrugging his shoulders as he did so. "I've had worst injuries." Which was true, but then he had usually been healed up after he received them. Gods, how he missed Raine's healing magic right now. It felt like they had tried to sew him up.  
  
"Very well then, we shall move into the crux of the matter. WHAT happened in the Forest of Death last night?"  
  
He felt Sheena stiffen besides him. He turned to look at her reassuringly, even giving her a smal smile to ease her mind. "Well..." he said as he began his story. "I was walking through the Forest of Death -"  
  
----  
  
"Man, the forest's empty today," Lloyd said to himself as he glanced about him to the unusually silent Forest of Death. It was a habit he couldn't quite break, talking to himself. He had developed it about a month after he had started on his journey to recover all the exspheres in the world, when he realised JUST how lonely a journey could get if there wasn't anyone else travelling with you. At times like this, he really missed the group because talking to yourself got old really fast. After all, you already knew everything that was going to be said. However, it beat the silence so he kept at it.  
  
He continued to stare at the surroundings even as he started inching both of his swords out of their sheathes. An instinct, partially born of many battles, was warning him of danger. He could not see anything, but his instinct had saved more than once and thus he trusted it implicitly. "Come out, come out where ever you are," he muttered under his breath as he continued through the Forest, both swords bared.  
  
Thus, he wasn't too surprised when he went around one of the many bends in the Forest path and saw the cloaked figure standing in the distance. The figure was slight but of a height that nearly matched his own and carried itself with a stately grace that was apparent in its posture. The hood of the cloak was pulled up such that it left the figures facial features in the shadow while the cloak itself was made out of pure white and seemed to glitter slightly in the darkness of the Forest, and it covered every single part of the figure's body, leaving nothing to be seen.  
  
He had the distinct impression that it had been waiting for him.  
  
"Master Lloyd," the figure said in a melodic feminine voice that seemed to be more song than words.  
  
"That's me," he said, feeling the weight of her stare on him. "Can I help you?" he asked politely but he did not sheath his blades. There was something wrong with this situation he was in and he had the uneasy impression that he was being watched.  
  
"Yes, there is a small matter you could help me with," the lady said, placing a small emphasis on the word 'is'. "I understand that you have an Exsphere?"  
  
"Yes," he replied cautiously, her question making him uncomfortably aware of the orb that rested on the back of his left hand.  
  
"Ah. Good," she said, the pleasure in her voice was obvious to him. It reminded him of the way Raine would sound whenever he got a question in school correct. "I'm afraid that I require it for certain purposes."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I require your Exsphere. Please kindly pass it to me," she said, as if she was to be obeyed without question as her cloak parted at the sides to reveal one slender, well-defined arm to be held out. The colour of her skin wasn't that far from the colour of her robe, being so fair as to be nearly white.  
  
"..."  
  
"Please do not dally. I should like this matter to be resolved as quickly as possible."  
  
"wait a minute! Who are you and why should I give you my exsphere?" Lloyd exclaimed.  
  
"Does it matter? You were seeking to dispose of all the exspheres in the world anyway, were you not?" the lady said coolly.  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
"Then I shall merely help you dispose of yours."  
  
"...Um...no thanks, Lady, but I'll disposes of it myself." Lloyd's eyes narrowed as he stared at the cloaked figure in front of him.  
  
"Ah. Pity, I had wished to resolve this without any conflict."  
  
Almost immediately, there were the sounds of several localised teleports coming from behind him. He turned his head back, only to see several dozen angels all gathered behind him, weapons held ready and all staring at him. He was also vaguely aware of monsters shuffling out from the dense growth from the Forest to surround him as well.  
  
"Ah, shit," was all he managed to get out before the monsters mobbed him.  
  
----  
  
He burned.  
  
He had no idea where he was. What had he been doing? These were concepts that were alien to him. All he knew was that, he burned with pain. His vision was hazy and he had the feeling that he was quickly losing what was left of his strength.  
  
Where was he headed? He didn't quite know, though he forced his legs to continue on walking, step by agonising step. Where was safety? Unbided, a name came to his lips and he whispered it into the night air. "Sheena..." And with it came the mental image of a girl dressed in strange clothes, a girl with sorrowful eyes, with eyes filled with joy, eyes filled with pain and sorrow. Always the same girl, but her eyes never said the same thing.  
  
'Mizuho,' a voice whispered from within him, a voice that sounded like him if he could remember what he sounded like. 'Head to Mizuho.'  
  
That was where safety was to be found.  
  
That would be where she was waiting.  
  
----  
  
"And that's the whole story."  
  
"You say the angels and monsters ambushed you and took your exsphere?" The Village Chief frowned as he considered the news he had just been given.  
"But why would they want your exsphere specifically?"  
  
Lloyd was silent for a while before he sighed. "My...exsphere was special," he said, as pain flashed across his eyes. Whenever he thought about his exsphere, he couldn't help thinking about his parents. His father who had protected him, and who in the end had given his life to fulfill his sons dream. His mother who had given life to him, and who had died because of the exsphere he wielded. "The Desians were always trying to get it back. It was the result of some project of theirs, the Angelus Project. My exsphere was deemed special because it came from that project, and because it was supposed to be capable of evolving with the user."  
  
There was silence as the two Chiefs contemplated his statement.  
  
"Why don't we go ask Yuan?" Sheena said suddenly, causing them all to look at her. "I mean, he WAS one of the Four Seraphim after all. He should know better than anyone about the angels." Her face fell suddenly as she remembered something. "Oh, but he's on Exire. We'll have to go to Meltokio to get Rheiards to reach him."  
  
"No, we won't." Lloyd grinned as he stood up. "In fact I have one here," he said as he reached into his trouser pocket and... "Eh?" he said, as he fumbled around a bit, searching every inch of his pocket in surprise. "Eh!?? It's not here!?" he exclaimed as he turned out his pockets.  
  
"Uh...Lloyd, if you're talking about the stuff that was in your original pair of pants, they're still at the hospital."  
  
"Ah...right."  
  
----  
  
He smiled as he looked lovingly at the exsphere embedded into the back of his hand. Already, he could feel the difference in the power that the Angelus sphere gave him and the what he had received previously from his normal exsphere. With it, it seemed like his senses were amplified a thousand fold. He could feel the slight roughness of the throne he sat on, through the clothes he wore. He could hear the even-handed breathing of the man standing several feet in front of him as well as the slight rustle of the cloak that his other aide wore as she stood several feet away from the man, the distance between the two of them obvious. "You have done well, Freya," he smirked as he tossed the compliment to the cloaked woman standing in front of him.  
  
"My lord is too kind," she replied respectfully as she bowed her head slightly to acknowledge his praise of her. The warrior to her side snorted before coughing suspiciously with what sounded like the words 'suck-up' stuck in between, but she paid him no mind.  
  
"With this..." he said, raising his hand up so that the light glinted off the angelus sphere, "We can finally punish the traitor. Gather Brunhilde and Sigurd, we are leaving for -"  
  
The door to the domed room slid open with a 'hsst' as two figures made their way in.  
  
"My Lord," the female of the pair intoned reverently as she bowed her head. The male said nothing, but inclined his head as he placed his fist over the area where his heart would have been.  
  
"Ah, Sigurd and Brunhilde. I was just looking for the two of you. We are leaving for Exire immediately, to punish the traitor," he said, as he stood up and started walking down the steps that led to his throne, the two others falling in step behind him.  
  
"My Lord, we have just received word that Kratos's son is on his way to Exire as well," the female spoke up quickly. "He was spotted riding on a Rheiard, with the ninja, towards the city of Exire."  
  
Although it would have been impossible to see the white-cloaked Freyas expression, one had the feeling that she was glaring at the other female. The other female glared back at just as fiercely, while the man beside Freya chuckled.  
  
He frowned as he turned to stare at Freya. "I thought you said he was dead?" His voice was cold, such a difference from the warmth and good humour he had before.  
  
"I am sorry my lord, I thought the dragons would have been enough to finish him," Freya said, as she quickly knelt on one knee before his gaze.  
  
"You always did like to avoid fighting if possible," he said coldly, his voice filled with scorn. He shook his head as he turned his eyes away from Freya. "Forget it. At the very least, you DID bring back the Angelus sphere for me." Looking back at the rest, he said "We will continue on to Exire to execute the traitor."  
  
"My Lord, what about Krato's son?"  
  
He smirked as he looked at the Angelus sphere on his hand. "He is...of no consequence."  
  
End  
  
Authors Notes: Not...dead....yet --......... 


End file.
